What’s the story behind the decision to make this movie?
What’s your reaction to the movie now that you have seen it after 35 years?
Why did you shoot the movie in film as opposed to video?
What sort of film rig did you have and who were your camera crew?
How did the Neighborhoods respond to the movie?
What was it like to film in a prison environment?
Did you or any of your crew have any apprehension about filming in the Prison?
What was it like to pass through the security?
Was there a special moment that stuck out from that whole experience?
What type of impact did the experience have on you?
One thought on “Questions For Moe About Filming The Hoods At Norfolk Prision”
This concert happened because a group of inmates at Norfolk sent fan mail – lots of it, always on yellow lined legal pad paper to several DJs at WBRS/ Brandeis. It was mainly two guys, Bionic Stan, who killed his parents I think, and John Rideout who got in some biker trouble and was in for Second Degree, along with his parole officer, a woman named Vampi. They would pass the letters around and other jailbirds would add requests (they liked the violent punk stuff and old rockabilly) or personal remarks like “I want to suck your ass”, little notes like that. I kept a lot of these but I never read them anymore – kind of scared to. But we were flattered to get any kind of mail for our low-power and very amateurish radio shows.
I don’t remember who had the idea to bring punk to MCI Norfolk, but most credit goes to Gilda Brasch who got things moving and made the calls around that we were looking for a band who were interested in doing this. Of course the prison system had final say as to what sort of entertainment they would allow, I’m sure the idea of punk music made them nervous and it was unlikely a group playing a song called “They Saved Hitler’s Brain” would have passed muster, but in the end it was the Neighborhoods and Vinny who did it, having submitted lyrics that convinced the authorities they weren’t going to spark a riot, as long as Vinny didn’t play “I Stick To My Stilletto” which must have greatly disappointed the boys.
It went off without a hitch, it was nice to meet our fan club, the response to the show was somewhat muted with people coming into the auditorium, sitting down for a couple of numbers, shuffling off when they decided this punk stuff wasn’t for them. The Herald did a big piece on the show, that maybe made it out to be a bigger deal than it really was. But I’m glad this film was made, made me remember what a good time the Hoods could be in clubland. Though I stopped watching because of all the clickbait ads that seemed to break in every two minutes. Shame that bringing this to the world depends on that shit.